‘Glee’ Casts Actor With Spinal Injury

Should actors with disabilities be the only ones to play characters with disabilities on TV? No, argues Zack Weinstein, an actor with a spinal injury who was recently cast in a guest-starring role on Glee. Though main character Artie is in a wheelchair, the actor who plays him is not actually disabled. The show had previously cast two actresses with Down’s syndrome (one as a new cheerleader, one as Sue Sylvester’s sister, Jean). But they hadn’t cast an actor who actually had a spinal injury and used a wheelchair, despite some elaborately choreographed wheelchair dance sequences, until now.

Zack wrote about his Glee experience on the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation website this morning, and said of the casting process for Artie, “I know for a fact that the producers did audition actors who use wheelchairs. I’m friends with one of those actors. Toby has a great voice but he looks too old for the part even by Hollywood standards. As long as actors with disabilities are given the opportunity to audition and are as seriously considered as able-bodied actors, I have no problem. The best actor should get the role.”

For his guest-starring part, Zack was up against 40 other actors, some disabled, some not. “I went into the audition room with a very clear goal: to convince them that I’m the best actor for the role who also happens to have a spinal cord injury. I didn’t want to get the part if they felt guilty or obligated. I didn’t want to get the part just because I broke my neck four and a half years ago and happen to look young enough.”

What do you think about Glee casting an actor with a spinal injury? Should only disabled actors play disabled roles?

Source: Reeve Foundation Paralysis Community via ONTD